Determined to overcome the opposition of conservative Democrats in Congress, Roosevelt became

involved in the 1938 Democratic primaries, actively campaigning for challengers who were more
supportive of New Deal reform. Roosevelt failed badly, managing to defeat only one target, a
conservative Democrat from New York City.[203] In the November 1938 elections, Democrats lost six
Senate seats and 71 House seats, with losses concentrated among pro-New Deal Democrats. When
Congress reconvened in 1939, Republicans under Senator Robert Taft formed a Conservative
coalition with Southern Democrats, virtually ending Roosevelt's ability to enact his domestic
proposals.[204] Despite their opposition to Roosevelt's domestic policies, many of these conservative
Congressmen would provide crucial support for Roosevelt's foreign policy before and during World
War II.[205]
Conservation and the environment
Roosevelt had a lifelong interest in the environment and conservation starting with his youthful
interest in forestry on his family estate. Although Roosevelt was never
an outdoorsman or sportsman on Theodore Roosevelt's scale, his
growth of the national systems were comparable. [6] Roosevelt was Unemployment rates[g]
active in expanding, funding, and promoting the National
Park and National Forest systems.[206] Under Roosevelt, their Year Lebergott Darby
popularity soared, from three million visitors a year at the start of the 192
decade to 15.5 million in 1939.[207] The Civilian Conservation Corps 3.2 3.2
9
enrolled 3.4 million young men and built 13,000 miles (21,000
kilometers) of trails, planted two billion trees, and upgraded 125,000 193
23.6 22.9
miles (201,000 kilometers) of dirt roads. Every state had its own state 2
parks, and Roosevelt made sure that WPA and CCC projects were 193
24.9 20.6
set up to upgrade them as well as the national systems.[208][209] 3
GNP and unemployment rates 193
21.7 16.0
See also: Great Depression in the United States § Roosevelt's New 4
Deal
193
20.1 14.2
Government spending increased from 8.0% of gross national product 5
(GNP) under Hoover in 1932 to 10.2% of the GNP in 1936.
193
The national debt as a percentage of the GNP had more than doubled 16.9 9.9
6
under Hoover from 16% to 40% of the GNP in early 1933. It held
steady at close to 40% as late as fall 1941, then grew rapidly during 193
14.3 9.1
the war.[211] The GNP was 34% higher in 1936 than in 1932 and 58% 7
higher in 1940 on the eve of war. That is, the economy grew 58% 193
from 1932 to 1940 in eight years of peacetime, and then grew 56% 19.0 12.5
8
from 1940 to 1945 in five years of wartime.[211] Unemployment fell
dramatically during Roosevelt's first term. It increased in 1938 ("a 193
17.2 11.3
depression within a depression") but continually declined after 1938. 9
[210]
 Total employment during Roosevelt's term expanded by 194
18.31 million jobs, with an average annual increase in jobs during his 14.6 9.5
0
administration of 5.3%.[212][213]
Foreign policy (1933–1941)
Main article: Foreign policy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration
Roosevelt with Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas and other dignitaries in Brazil, 1936
The main foreign policy initiative of Roosevelt's first term was the Good Neighbor Policy, which was
a re-evaluation of U.S. policy toward Latin America. The United States had frequently intervened in
Latin America following the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, and the United States had
occupied several Latin American nations in the Banana Wars that had occurred following
the Spanish–American War of 1898. After Roosevelt took office, he withdrew U.S. forces
from Haiti and reached new treaties with Cuba and Panama, ending their status as
U.S. protectorates. In December 1933, Roosevelt signed the Montevideo Convention on the Rights
and Duties of States, renouncing the right to intervene unilaterally in the affairs of Latin American
countries.[214] Roosevelt also normalized relations with the Soviet Union, which the United States had
refused to recognize since the 1920s.[215] Roosevelt hoped to renegotiate the Russian debt from
World War I and open trade relations, but no progress was made on either issue, and "both nations
were soon disillusioned by the accord."[216]
The rejection of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920 marked the dominance of isolationism in
American foreign policy. Despite Roosevelt's Wilsonian background, he and Secretary of State
Cordell Hull acted with great care not to provoke isolationist sentiment. The isolationist movement
was bolstered in the early to mid-1930s by Senator Gerald Nye and others who succeeded in their
effort to stop the "merchants of death" in the U.S. from selling arms abroad. [217] This effort took the
form of the Neutrality Acts; the president asked for, but was refused, a provision to give him the
discretion to allow the sale of arms to victims of aggression. [218] Focused on domestic policy,
Roosevelt largely acquiesced to Congress's non-interventionist policies in the early-to-mid 1930s.
[219]
 In the interim, Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini proceeded to overcome Ethiopia, and the
Italians joined Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler in supporting General Francisco Franco and
the Nationalist cause in the Spanish Civil War.[220] As that conflict drew to a close in early 1939,
Roosevelt expressed regret in not aiding the Spanish Republicans.[221] When Japan invaded China in
1937, isolationism limited Roosevelt's ability to aid China, [222] despite atrocities like the Nanking
Massacre and the USS Panay incident.[223]
The Roosevelts with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, sailing from Washington, D.C., to Mount Vernon,
Virginia, on the USS  Potomac during the first U.S. visit of a reigning British monarch (June 9, 1939)

Foreign trips of Roosevelt during his presidency [224]

Germany annexed Austria in 1938, and soon turned its attention to its eastern neighbors.
[225]
 Roosevelt made it clear that, in the event of German aggression against Czechoslovakia, the U.S.
would remain neutral.[226] After completion of the Munich Agreement and the execution
of Kristallnacht, American public opinion turned against Germany, and Roosevelt began preparing
for a possible war with Germany. [227] Relying on an interventionist political coalition of Southern
Democrats and business-oriented Republicans, Roosevelt oversaw the expansion U.S. airpower and
war production capacity.[228]